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A far-left Democrat who founded a youth climate activism group is expected to head to Congress next year after likely defeating moderate House GOP Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich.
Sunrise Movement co-founder Will Lawrence is projected to win the election to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District in the House of Representatives in what was considered one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 midterm cycle.
Lawrence is a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who was endorsed by prominent figures on the far-left like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
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Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, left, Sen. Bernie Sanders, center, and House candidate William Lawrence, right, at a rally in Lansing, Mich., on July 19, 2026. (Andrew Roth/Sipa USA via Reuters)
But he’s sought to distance himself from that label in the final stretch of the campaign, presenting a more moderate view that in the end appears to have proved successful.
Lawrence’s victory comes in the middle of what’s expected to be a successful election for Democrats nationwide. Multiple polls as far as a month out from Nov. 3 showed Democrats had a good chance of winning back the House majority after four years of GOP domination.
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Barrett, who was seeking a second term in the House, was considered one of Democrats’ top targets this year.
Tom Barrett speaks at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Nov. 4, 2024, before former President Donald Trump holds his final campaign rally ahead of Election Day. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
Before his political career, Barrett spent two decades in the U.S. Army, where he was deployed to places like Kuwait and Iraq.
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His Lansing, Michigan-anchored district was ranked a toss-up by both Fox News Power Rankings and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Michigan congressional candidate William Lawrence shared this image on Instagram when he opened up about his 2013 arrest during an environmental protest. He and others chained themselves to machinery in defiance of an oil and gas pipeline. (Instagram/@wewill2026mi)
Lawrence was part of a larger wave of socialist-linked insurgents winning upset victories in Democratic primaries across the country. In his case, Lawrence defeated former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and Navy SEAL Matt Maasdam to win the party’s nomination.
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He was also once arrested and charged with a felony during an incident in 2013 in which he and other activists chained themselves to machinery in protest of a fossil fuel pipeline that was planned to run between Wisconsin and Ontario.